Integrated Music Teaching Podcast topmusic.co: Helping you become a more successful music teacher

In today’s episode with Daniel Patterson and Greg Genter, two leading experts in group lessons in the music industry, we talk about their approach to group lessons and how they’ve used their years of experience as musicians to help them grow their businesses. Greg and Daniel started working together after both had significant experience teaching and running their music studios, and their unique perspectives blend beautifully. They cover everything from group lessons, having systems in place for business management, to keeping your studio fresh, fun and profitable.







Find out how Greg’s group piano method, The Piano Express, solves the two biggest problems with group teaching and how it differs from other group lesson programs. And finally, we’ve got some great tips on taking care of yourself in order to keep stress levels down while growing your studio.













* Daniel shared his thoughts on the general market for music lessons right now.







* Brief background on how Greg and Daniel started working together.







* The value of building a system for your studio so you can focus on the things that spark joy.







* Why group teaching is having a surge in popularity right now.







* Helping your piano parents understand the benefits of group lessons vs one-on-one lessons.







* Greg tells us about his group piano method, The Piano Express, and how it differs from other group lesson programs.







* The revolving door concept and how this relates to group teaching.







* The value of playing together and teaching technique.







* Top three changes that will have an impact on your studio in 2023.







* One final piece of wisdom from Greg about taking care of yourself and managing stress.









Guest Links Mentioned









* Grow Your Music Studio links







* The Piano Express







* 7-Figure Music School Podcast











TopMusicPro Membership 14-Day FREE Trial











Links Mentioned









* Episode 90: How to Grow Your Studio Like a Pro with Daniel Patterson







* Episode 210: Daniel Patterson on Why Studio Marketing Matters at Any Stage









Today’s Guest























Daniel Patterson







Meet Daniel Patterson, the founder of GrowYourMusicStudio.com. He began teaching piano in 2004. After a decade of teaching, he began to help other music studios and schools solve common problems that plague our industry. He has helped hundreds of music schools and private studios with increasing their student count and revenue. Additionally, he has helped hundreds of studios convert to a multi-level group lesson m...

How do you know if your student is ready for Grade 1 piano exam? In this episode, we’re sharing our live workshop with our amazing guests, Sharon Mark-Teggart and Dr Sally Cathcart from the Curious Piano Teachers. Have a listen to our guests as they provide an in depth view of the traditional approach to piano exams, as well as the 21st century method, with a focus on their teaching approaches and how you can use them to prepare your students for their Grade 1 piano exam.







They also discussed the areas that you need to know before you start preparing for Grade 1 piano exams. They shared the importance of parents in practice and preparation. Finally, they have given us some great tips on how to encourage your piano parents so that the exam is a positive and successful experience for your student.













* Introduction to Curious Piano Teachers, Sharon Mark-Teggart and Dr Sally Cathcart.







* The traditional approach versus the 21st century approach to piano exams.







* Paul Harris simultaneous learning approach.







* What is a concept-led approach?







* How do you know if your piano student is ready for Grade 1?







* 7 areas you need to know before you start preparing for Grade 1.







* What is the practice triangle?







* The importance of parents in practice and preparation.







* Tim shared a sneak peek to the Grade 1 Toolkit Course.







* The concept of the 40-piece challenge.



















TopMusicPro Membership Birthday Promo



















Links Mentioned









* The Curious Piano Teachers







* Episode 134: Continuing Professional Development with the Curious Piano Teachers



















Download your IMT Info Sheet



















Today’s Guest





















Sharon Mark-Teggart







Sharon Mark-Teggart is the Co-Founder and Director of The Curious Piano Teachers, an organisation that provides a global community of piano teachers with resources that enable them to learn as much as they teach. She has over 20 years experience as a reflective practitioner in music education. She is well-known worldwide as a highly experienced piano pedagogue, contributing extensively to literature and resources. A visionary entrepreneur in the world of music education, Sharon founded evoco in 2012 (Northern Ireland’s Music Education Organisation, specialising in piano teacher training) before pioneering the concept of professional development for piano teachers via an online membership site with her Co-Founding partner at The Curious Piano Teachers, Dr Sally Cathcart.







Sally Cathcart

Most piano teachers encourage their students to perform as regularly as possible, but how many of us give our students strategies for coping with performance anxiety? In this replay episode with Dr Noa Kageyama aka the Bulletproof Musician, find out why teaching performing skills should be a part of your piano teaching. We’ve all seen students who were perfectly prepared for a recital or exam who simply crumble on the performance day. It wasn’t a lack of ability or drive, but simply because performance anxiety got to them. Get some tips and advise on how you can help your students to focus during their performance and how to practice to be able to perform at their best.











In this episode, you’ll learn:









* Why teaching performing skills should be a part of your piano teaching.







* Visualisation exercises you can do even with your youngest students.







* How to turn off self-criticism when performing.







* How you can help your students to focus during their performance.







* What diaphragmatic breathing is and why you should be teaching it.







* How to practice the lead up to a performance.



















Download your IMT Info Sheet



















Links Mentioned









* Noa Kageyama’s Website







* Make it Stick the Science of Successful Learning

















Today’s Guest





















Noa Kageyama is a performance psychologist and Julliard faculty member and is the performance psychology coach for the New World Symphony. Kageyama has degrees from Oberlin (BA, psychology), Juilliard (MM, violin performance) and Indiana University (MS/PhD, psychology). Kageyama specializes in teaching performing artists how to utilize sports psychology principles to more consistently demonstrate their full abilities under pressure.









TopMusicPro Membership 14-Day FREE Trial



















Thank you for tuning in!







Consider implementing the ideas from this podcast by writing several actionable steps for your teaching practice if it’s inspired you.







If you enjoyed today’s show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, which helps other teachers find our show.







Stay updated by subscribing to this show, and get automatic delivery to your device every time a new episode goes live! We publish on Fridays weekly.



















Most piano teachers encourage their students to perform as regularly as possible, but how many of us give our students strategies for coping with performan...

Today’s podcast episode focuses on Serena Mak’s TEDx Talk, “Exposing Music Exams and the Distinction Delusion.” Serena is a passionate piano teacher for 18 years, managing her own private studio and volunteering regularly at her local church as a pianist and vocalist. She shares with us the catalyst that changed her mindset about piano exams and how this affected and changed her teaching in her studio. In 2022, she took to the TEDx stage and unravelled the problem of traditional, assessment-focused learning. And finally, Serena shared the story on how she came to do a TEDx talk gig.













* Serena shared a brief overview of her background and her studio.







* The catalyst that changed her mindset about piano exams.







* Is the rushed and linear approach of the “exam express” a limiting factor to creative teaching?







* Serena explains the quote that she got from an ABRSM examiner on why exams is like taking a body temperature test.







* An overview of Serena’s Ted Talk called “Exposing Music Exams and the Distinction Delusion.”







* What’s the best way of recording musical progress technology-wise?







* The effects and the changes on her teaching when she changed her mindset about piano exams.







* Serena shared the story on how she came to do a TEDx gig.





















Links Mentioned









* Serena Mak Website







* Serena Mak Instagram Page







* Serena Mak Facebook Page







* Download your IMT Info Sheet











Sign up for the Supercharge Your Grade 1 Students Workshop



















Today’s Guest





















Serena Mak has been sharing her love for life and music with her piano students for over 18 years. Aside from managing her own private studio, she volunteers regularly at her local church as a pianist and vocalist. She has also trained other teachers in piano schools all over Brisbane, Australia. Serena pushed through exam after exam while growing up and attained her diploma in piano performance at the tender age of 13. In 2022, she took to the TEDx stage and unravelled the problem of traditional, assessment-focused learning. She is passionate about sharing ideas on how we can nurture the next generation of musicians amid the changing scape of music education.









TopMusicPro Membership 14-Day FREE Trial



















Thank you for tuning in!







Consider implementing the ideas from this podcast by writing several actionable steps for your teaching p...

As musicians, understanding scales is an important part of our study, but it can also be a struggle for some students. In today’s episode, our guest Nicola Cantan from Vibrant Music Teaching answers a lot of questions and concerns when teaching scales, starting by looking at the value of learning scales, how improvising can change how our students look at scales, and learning about fingering and the relationships between different patterns. Nicola also shared some helpful tips on how to start learning scales as well as creative and innovative scale practice ideas.













* Where should we start when teaching scales?







* Understanding the value of learning scales.







* How improvising has changed how students look at scales.







* When do you start learning scales?







* Tips on how to introduce scale fingering and in what order.







* Aligning scales with the music that our students are playing.







* What can we do if a student is struggling with a particular scale?







* Innovative scale practice ideas for beginners.

















Links Mentioned









* Vibrant Music Teaching







* Colourful Keys







* Review the Integrated Music Teaching Podcast

















Today’s Guest





















Nicola Cantan is a piano teacher, author, blogger, and creator of imaginative and engaging teaching resources. She loves getting piano students learning through laughter, and exploring the diverse world of music making through improvisation, composition and games. Nicola’s Vibrant Music Teaching membership site is helping teachers all over the world to include more games and off-bench activities in their lessons.















Thank you for tuning in!







Consider implementing the ideas from this podcast by writing several actionable steps for your teaching practice if it’s inspired you.







If you enjoyed today’s show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, which helps other teachers find our show.







Stay updated by subscribing to this show, and get automatic delivery to your device every time a new episode goes live! We publish on Fridays weekly.











As musicians, understanding scales is an important part of our study, but it can also be a struggle for some students. In today’s episode, our guest Nicola Cantan from Vibrant Music Teaching answers a lot of questions and concerns when teaching scales, starting by looking at the value of learning scales, how improvising can change how our students look at scales, and learning about fingering and the relationships between different patterns. Nicola also shared some helpful tips on how to start learning scales as well as creative and innovative scale practice ideas.













* Where should we start when teaching scales?







* Understanding the value of learning scales.







* How improvising has changed how students look at scales.







* When do you start learning scales?

In today’s episode, sight reading specialist Rebecca Stewart joins Tim and shared with us her top five tips for sight reading (with really cool names). Rebecca has authored and published Sight Reading Secrets, which has now nine books in the series. She also founded Imagination Regeneration to give rural students meaningful learning opportunities at no cost to their families. This episode explores the importance of sight reading and why we should still intentionally teach and practise it. And Rebecca talks about how to teach sight-reading in a way that makes it fun, but also interesting and engaging for everyone involved!













* Rebecca shared a brief overview of her studio in New South Wales.







* How she founded Imagination Regeneration program for rural students and what it’s all about.







* The importance of sight reading and why we should still intentionally teach and practise it.







* Rebecca’s 5 tips to sight reading success:



* TIP 1: Using language learning technique approach to teach sight reading.







* TIP 2: Tangible ways that parents can follow up what teachers require for sight reading practise.







* TIP 3: Having a systematic sight reading curriculum using the idea of growth mindset and extrinsic motivation to boost students’ confidence.







* TIP 4: Having a repertoire-rich teaching approach and learning pieces during a year, not just for exam pieces, positively affects your sight reading ability.







* TIP 5: How integrated creative/chord playing, improvising, composing and playing duets improves sight reading.











* A quote from Dr. Martha Baker-Jordan from her book, Practical Piano Pedagogy.







* Rebecca’s sight reading workshop inside TopMusicPro Academy.

















Links Mentioned









* Rebecca Stewart Website







* Rebecca Stewart Instagram







* TopMusicCo TikTok







* TopMusicCo Instagram

















Member Links Mentioned









* Sight Reading with Rebecca Stewart







* Related: A Piano Teacher’s Guide To Teaching Sight Reading

















Today’s Guest



























Rebecca grew up listening to her three older sisters practice their musical instruments. She delighted in her childhood music lessons and wanted to teach young children in a fun and creative way. Her piano teacher at Melbourne University recommended the Yamaha method, and Rebecca taught with Yamaha Music Education Centres from 1998 to 2018. She loved being a national teacher trainer with Yamaha. She also enjoyed opportunities to travel to Toronto and Tokyo for Yamaha teacher development events. Rebecca is also a qualified practicing Yamaha grade examiner.







In 2016, Rebecca went to Jakarta where her eight-year-old Yam...